Since we came here, we weren't able to get the puris for making SPDP - Shev Batata Dahi Puri which is among favorite chaat items for Ajoy. Using paani puri's puri for SPDP doesn't seem right and I am sure it wouldn't taste as good either. So I decided to give try making these puris. Tried few times and now I think I have got the recipe right which gets best results, and is certified by many friends who had chance to taste :)


Ingredients
1 Cup Maida
2 Spoon Rawa
1/4 Cup Melted Butter
Oil
Salt

Method

• Mix Maida, Rawa and salt together.
• Add in melted butter and mix well.
• Add in 1/4 cup water and knead soft dough.
• Grease the dough with 1/4 spoon oil and cover and keep aside for an hour.
• Make round balls and roll them thin and big. Cut using cup or cookie cutter into small round shapes.
• Heat oil and fry the puris on both sides over medium flame till light brown on both sides. Take out on kitchen towel and let it soak oil from puris.
• Heat oven to 350F/175C and bake the puris in it for 10 minutes.

Notes
I have noticed that if you roll the puris thin then they wont bubble up and that's how you want them for SPDP.
Also I baked the puris again because that make them crispier, that is any rawness and moisture left after frying goes away and puris.

Bhel being one of my favourite snacks we end up preparing it often. I also prefer it during outings :) Preparing it at some nice picnic spot is the best, easiest and tastiest food :)


Ingredients
6 Cup Churmura
2 Cup All in One Mixture
1 Cup Shev
1 Cup Boondi
1 Cup Navaratna Mix
1.5 Cup Tamarind
2 Cup Jaggery
2 Green Chillies
1 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1/2 Spoon Jeera Powder
4-5 Dates
2 Onions
2 Tomatoes
1/2 Cup Corriander Leaves
Salt to taste

Method

• Soak the tamarind and dates in water for an hour or so
• Grind the mixture with jaggery, red chilli powder, green chilli, jeera powder and salt
• Strain the mixture and keep it aside
• In a big pan mix churmura(puffed rice), navaratna mix, all in one, shev, finely chopped onion, tomatoes and corriander leaves. Mix well
• Add the tamarind mixture prepared earlier and Mix well
• Garnish with boondi and serve immediately

Notes
Garnish it with Raw Mango pieces during mango season. It would be more fun :)
Its good idea to make the bhel in batches so that it doesnt become soggy while serving it.
I normally prefer to keep some tamarind mixture aside instead of mixing the full quantity. That helps giving the personal touch :) The taste depends on what one likes.
Very good item for picnics and parties. You can keep everything ready and mix all of the items just before eating

Today when i wanted to cook something quick and yet something dellicious this was the option that came to my mind.


Ingredients
1 cup Muttor
4 Potatoes
2 spoon Corn Flour
1/4 Spoon Garlic paste
A pinch of Ginger paste
A pinch of Turmeric powder
1/4 spoon Red Chilli powder
1/2 Lemon
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Cook potatoes in the cooker
• When they are little warm, grate them
• Mix salt, corn flour in it and make dough out of it. Apply little oil when you are almost done with it
• Boil muttor for a while and drain the water
• Add the turmeric powder, ginger paste, garlic paste, red chilli powder, lemon juice and salt to taste
• Make lemon sized ball out of the potato dough and press the ball with fingers to give it a shape of the cup
• Add a spoon of muttor mixture in the cup and close it to form little bigger ball. Gently press the ball to form flat round pattice
• Fry the pattice in the oil in a pan on medium heat

Notes
Oil should be really hot when you put the pattice in the oil as otherwise the potato mixture will stick to the pan.
You can make a lighter version of this by frying it on tawa by sprinkling oil all over instead of deep frying in a pan.

This dish evolved after reading few recipies related to chaat in a book that mom has given me.


Ingredients
1/4 cup Maida
1/4 cup Rava
1/2 spoon Curd
Pinch of Baking Powder
2 Cup Corn
2 Tomatoes
2 Onions
1 Lemon
1 spoon Ginger Garlic paste
Pinch of Garam Masala
Corriander Leaves
Shev
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Mix rava, maida, baking powder and salt to taste
• Warm the curd and a spoon of oil
• Mix it with the rawa maida mixture and make the dough out of this.
• Roll small puris out of this dough - very thin ones and fry it in oil
• Heat oil and add 1/2 tomato grated, 1/2 onion grated and let it cook for a while
• Add ginger garlic paste, garam masala red chilli powder and salt to taste and stir well
• Add corn to this and cook the corns over medium heat
• Chop remaining onion and tomatoes into fine pieces
• While serving break the puris into medium sized pieces and spread them on the dish
• Spread the corn mixture on top of this
• Spread finely chopped onions and tomatoes over this
• Sprinkle few drops of lemon all over the dish
• Then spread corriander leaves and shev and serve

Notes
You can optionally add 1/2 spoon of grated raw mango as well in this. In that case reduce the lemon drop quantity accordingly otherwise chaat might turn too sour.
Optionally sprinkle little chaat masala over this if you like
After the rawa-maida dough is ready you can mix it in grinder for a while. This as well as warm Curd helps in making the puris very crispy.

As summer starts, mango makes the space in our meals.. This one is maharashtrian dish and is normally served as snack during 'Haldi Kunku'.


Ingredients
1 Raw Mango
1 cup Harbara Daal
2 Green Chillies
1/4 spoon Sugar
1/4 spoon Turmeric Powder
1/4 spoon Mustard seeds
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Soak the harbara Daal in water for 5-6 hours
• Grind the daal and green chillies in a mixer
• Grate the raw mango and mix with this grinded mixture
• Add sugar and salt to it and mix well
• Heat oil and add mustard seeds
• Once the seeds sputter, add the turmeric powder and add this oil mixture into the grinded mixture. Mix well and sever

Notes
One can add the fried red chilli into the oil while mustard seeds sputter.

Around 5 years back I was staying away from home for the first time because of a new job in bangalore. I use to stay with roomies - Amita, Vinaya and Anumeha.. One fine day we thought of preparing dahi vada. It was just after some 2-3 months after we had moved into a flat. We hardly had any cooking experience and required utensils. We used MTR's Instant Vada mix for preparing wada and fried it in a small pot (we didn't have pan :D). The best part was I mentioned them quite a few times that I know how to preapre 'good dahi vada' :) Since childhood it was my faviourite dish and I had seen mom preparing it :) thats the reason I knew of the tricks for getting good dahi wada :D So here in this recipe i share it :) Off course now I don't use instant mix for preparing wada and i do have a pan to fry the vadas :)


Ingredients
1 cup Udid Daal
1 Green Chilli
1/4 spoon Ginger paste
1/2 ltr Curd
2-3 spoon Sugar
Salt
Oil

Method

• Soak the udid daal overnight
• In the morning, separate the water from the daal
• Grind the daal by adding around 4-5 spoons of water
• Add green chilli, ginger paste and grind further to get fine paste
• Get the mixture in a pot, add salt to taste and mix well
• Heat oil in a pan and fry the small vadas
• Mean while in a pot mix water and little salt and keep aside
• Mix 2-3 spoons of curd with around a cup of water and keep it in plate and keep aside
• When vada is fried well, remove it from oil and add it to the salty water prepared earlier
• Fry next set of vadas
• When they are ready remove the earlier batch of vadas from water, press them to remove the water and them in the plate with curd water
• Repeat for all wadas
• Mix the curd, sugar, little salt to taste and keep ready
• While serving, serve the wada from the curd water and cover it with the sweet curd we preapred earlier.

Notes
When you fry the vada, it should float in the oil, if not mix the batter well.
Also when the vada is dipped in salty water, it should float, if not vada is half cooked.
You can garnish the vada with red chilli powder, tamarind chutney if you like.

When I was staying in bangalore, there use to be a person near MK Ahemad On CMH Road who use to serve the delicious paani puri. I always dreamed of preaparing the paani puri the way he use to make. Last week when I gave it a shot, it indeed turned out the same taste :) He also use to give one suka chatpata puri after a round of paani puri. So here is the recipe. Try it out, i bet it will keep on appearing on your menu quite frequently.

Paani Puri


Ingredients
25 small Puris
3 Potatoes
2.5 spoon Chaat Masala
2.5 spoon Aamchur powder
1/2 spoon + a pinch of Jeera powder
1/2 spoon + a pinch of Corriander powder
A pinch of Asafoetida
1 cup Corriander leaves
2 spoon Pudina leaves
2 Green Chillies
1 Lemon
6 cup water
Salt to taste

Method

• Boil the potatoes
• Mean time grind corriander leaves, pudina leaves, green chillies, 2 spoon Chaat masala, 2 spoon Aamchur powder, 1/2 spoon jeera powder, 1/2 spoon corriander powder and asafoetida with water
• Strain this mixture through strainer
• Mix the lemon juice and salt with it
• Mash the boiled potatoes
• Mix remaining jeera powder, corriander powder, chaat masala and aamchur powder with it
• Add 3-4 crushed puris to this mixture
• Add around 4 spoon of the water prepared earlier to this and smash again
• Now add this mixture to the puri one by one, add the water prepared earlier to this and serve immediately

Notes
You can add little sweetened tamarind chutney (by adding little extra jaggery) if you want little sweeter taste.

Suka Puri


Ingredients
6 Puris
2 Potatoes
1/2 spoon red chilli powder
1/2 Lemon
A pinch of Jeera powder
A pinch of Corriander powder
A pinch of Aamchur powder
Salt to taste

Method

• Boil the potatoes
• Smash the boiled potatoes after removing their cover
• Mix red chilli powder, jeera powder, corriander powder, aamchur powder, salt to with it
• Add this mixture to the puris
• Add couple of drops of lemon juice on each puri and serve

Notes
You might want to add a pinch of chaat masala to the mixture if you plan to prepare only suka puri, but since suka puri is normally eaten after paani puri I avoid the chaat masala to have different taste than paani puri

Vaishali - A hotel on FC Road in Pune is very famous for this dish.. And ajoy being fequent visitor there i had additional pressure to make it as tastier as they make it.. And I was somewhat successful in it.. So here is the recipy.


Ingredients
7 Papadi style Puris
1 spoon Tamarind Chutney
3/4 spoon Green Spicy Chutney
1 medium sized Potato
1/2 cup Curd
4 spoon Shev
1/2 spoon Corriander leaves
1/2 spoon Corriander powder
1/2 spoon Cumin powder
1/2 spoon Chaat masala
2 spoon Sugar
Salt to taste

Method

• Cook potatoes in the cooker
• Mix curd with sugar and a pinch of salt and keep aside
• Remove the cover of the potato chop it into fine pieces
• Mix salt, corriander powder, cumin powder, chaat masala with these pieces
• Arrange 7 puris on a plate and add these finely chopped potato pieces on top of it
• Sprinkle green spicy chutney, then curd and then tamarind chutney on it
• Spread shev on top of it and garnish with corriander leaves

Notes
This is an ideal item for the party where in you can keep everything ready and just prepare the dishes while serving

When Mom had come here, she had got couple of recipe magazines with her.. So I read this recipe from it and thought of trying it out today..


Ingredients
2 cup thin pohas
2 potatoes
1/2 spoon ginger paste
4-5 green chillies
1/2 cup curd
1-2 spoon Sugar
Salt to taste
Mustard seeds
A pinch of turmeric powder
1 spoon tamarind chutney
Oil

Method

• Cook potatoes well in cooker and keep it aside to cool down
• Sprinkle little water on pohas so that they become little soft
• Mix crushed potato, ginger paste, finely chopped green chillies and salt to taste
• Form small patties out of this mixture
• Fry the patties by sprinkling little oil on a tawa
• Mix curd with sugar well
• Heat oil and let mustard seeds splutter in it
• Add turmeric powder to it
• Add this oil to the curd and mix well
• Serve the patties of poha-potatoes topped with the prepared curd mixture and garnished with little tamarind chutney

Notes
You can optionally fry the patties by putting a small coat of breadcrums
I also thought of adding thinner yellow coloured 'shev' on this, but since i didn't have them today i am going to try it out next time

This one is my own creation :) I just love raw mango with red chilli powder and salt.. Also I like corn chat with chilli powder, salt and lemon juice.. So I decided to try out this one.. And it was yummyyy :)


Ingredients
3-4 cup fresh or frozen corn
1 raw mango
1 spoon butter
Red chilli powder to taste
Salt to taste
2 spoon corriander leaves (optional)

Method

• Cook corn in pressure cooker
• Grate the raw mango
• In a pan put butter and let it melt
• Add cooked corn and raw mango
• Also add salt and chilli powder
• Keep it on stove till its warm. and seems properly mixed.
• Decorate with finely chopped corriander leaves

Notes
It tastes better if its hot - spicy.. So use chilli powder without kanjusi :)